I left school and started my own successful bakery business whilst studying at college. I was then successful in my application to Virgin Atlantic as Cabin Crew.
June 2021.
In S5 & S6 I achieved Higher (SCQF level 6) in English, Modern Studies, History, Art & Design, Business Management and Admin & IT, alongside National 5 (SCQF level 5) Maths.
Social media was a big inspiration as I feel like cabin crew is not a talked about job in schools, and it's amazing to hear that SCQF 5 level in Airline and Airport operations is now offered to school pupils through Forth Valley College.
During school I worked in retail and built up confidence & customer service experience at the weekends. I really think working from 16 boosted my confidence massively in terms of people skills & even just developing friendships and relationships with new people.
My job is completely about communication, people skills and critical thinking. So many people (alongside myself before I started) assumed cabin crew are just there to serve food and drink etc. After an extremely intense 5 week training course this could not be further from the truth! I have learnt critical first aid skills such as CPR and how to use an AED. Knowing how to put out fires & how to deal with unwell passengers. The most important daily skill is of course communication. I work with new, amazing people every day, we work as a team and help each other out onboard and down route in different countries. Even after 1 flight you can have a new best friend. Apart from the serious side of the job, of course the benefits are seeing the world & getting paid for it. In my opinion it’s the best job in the world and I’m so happy & proud of myself for how far I’ve come considering I never had a clue during school about what to do with myself when it came to a life long career.
I really wish I could go back and tell myself to not worry so much about the future. To not worry so much about grades (although they are important!) but it isn’t the be all and end all. I also wish I could say that you don’t need to go to college or university to do well & be happy. I’m the only one in my friend group who didn’t go to university and I’m so so glad I didn’t end up going as I did feel a pressure to apply. I submitted my application as an option for a course I wasn’t even that interested in! When the offers came back I declined them all as I knew it didn’t feel right. Success doesn’t always come from education and I wish I could go back and tell myself that.
I think it’s important to say that everyone should aim to do well in school, but to not beat yourself up if you fail a test or don’t do as well as expected in an exam. Starting in the workplace, doing extra activities out of school & meeting new people gives you life skills that are sometimes much more important than what grade you get in school. If you don’t know what you want to do career wise don’t feel so much pressure about it, I had no clue until 6 months ago and I left school 2 years ago. I went straight into work and then eventually found a job I wanted to give a go, now I wouldn’t change it for the world. Everything really does work out in the end as cliche as it sounds!
